Just my freakin luck
Posted by swingate | Filed under General, Uncategorized
The transmission on my ’99 Mazda 626 went out. It was going to cost over $3,000 to fix which is more than the blue book value. The mechanic offered me $600 on the spot since his son totaled his car the week before. I took his offer. I was going to replace it within 12-18 months anyway, but I planned on giving it to Belle (the SO). She has a Ford Escort that’s on it’s last legs.
I’m going to drive my mother’s spare Lexus LS400 while I save for a new one. Not sure what I want; can’t decide between a sports car, small SUV or sedan. I’m tired under powered 4 cylinders for sure. I need something with enough space to put my bike in the trunk. That would eliminate a true sports car like the Hyundai Genesis Coupe which I like a lot. I know there are trunk racks but I don’t like them. This is the time I buy the car I want, not just the car I can afford.
A European sports sedan would be ideal but many are still more than I want to spend. I’m trying to stay under $30,000 although I should be able to put close to $7,500-10K down. I have a long list of options – Lexus IS 250, Ford Taurus Limited, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, GMC Terrain SUV, Nissan Maxima, Chrysler 300, etc.
Adele
Posted by swingate | Filed under General
Okay, I just can’t get back into the long blog thing right now. For the time being my posts will be quite Twitter-esque, i.e. 140 characters or less.
Right now I’m listening to Adele, a young British singer. She really has quite a sultry voice. You should check her out…like soon. Her first album is titled “19″.
Is this thing on?
Posted by swingate | Filed under General
Just testing blogging from my iPod Touch. I love this thing! It’s on, baby!
Time to get back on track
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
I have a few posts I need to jot down. It’s just hard to get motivated to bang out a long post, which is the way I prefer to do it. I might start doing shorter Twitter’ish posts in the future but I’ll try to put up real stories at least a couple time per month.
Last May I had a big trip back to Atlanta scheduled. I planned to see the folks, spend some quality time with Belle, attend a cousin’s wedding and meet up with a bunch of high school friends that I’ve reconnected with on Facebook. I was originally planning to get there on a Saturday. I decided to bump it to Friday in case Mom needed me to work in the yard Saturday morning. Good thing I did.
I got in around 9pm on Friday. My dad had been on the family farm in South Carolina. He was not feeling well so his brother drove him and they arrived around midnight. Dad had a host of old man issues – emphysema, diabetes, high blood pressure, you name it.
The next morning I helped (carried actually) him downstairs so we could take him to see his doctor. I got him downstairs and sat him in his easy chair to rest. My dad is a pretty big guy and I was flat out exhausted from carrying him. He stopped breathing and died right there in front of me, mom and my uncle.
He had been ill for a long while so I was mentally prepared and things were going to be much easier on Mom now. Needless to say the activity schedule was turned on it’s head. I still went to the wedding and a couple of my high school boys stopped by to check on us, which I really appreciated. I didn’t get to see Belle which was very disappointing.
Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.
Start the presses!
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
Okay, all three of my remaining readers have been pestering me for updates. I guess I better appease them before they abandon ship too. I have restocked the frig with cheese so here comes the whine to go with it.
Check back soon!
Don’t need no stinkin title
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
I’m still bummed about having to cancel the trip to Big Bear with my Urban Adventure group two weeks ago. I was really looking forward to seeing Big Bear Lake and Oktoberfest. My radiator hoses blew the day before, which blew period. Thankfully I was a mile from home and there’s an auto shop within walking distance. Now I think my transmission is slipping a lil bit. I will definitely be up there to snowboard this winter.
After 30 years I have officially renounced my Oakland Raiders fanship. I can’t take it anymore. They will never do squat again as long as Al Davis has his hand in the pot. He is just too old school. It’s unlikely I’ll become a fan again when he’s gone. His son is next in line and I hear he is more of the same.
My company will actually be celebrating my birthday today, even though it was Friday. My bosses have been out of town and they wanted to be here for it. I love my job. I’m very lucky and grateful to be where I am.
Are you that guy?
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
So I’m driving to work today, right? I’m on the ramp getting on the highway. Now I’m not one of those guys that speeds to the end of the ramp to get ahead of everyone. I get on wherever I can get on and that’s the way it is.
So today I’m trying to get on and it’s fairly crowded. This is L.A. at 7:40AM. In the lane to my left is a Crotchety Old Dude (COD). There is a little space ahead of COD so I try to move ahead a bit and work into that space. COD is determined not to be the guy I get in front of if it’s the last thing he does in life. I’m like dude, it’s 7:40AM. You just got up. Is your whole day already so in the shitter than you can’t just be nice and let a brotha in? For me, once I’ve showered 5AM and 5PM are the same. I’m wide awake and cheery as I’m gonna get. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently the 0.0000000762 seconds COD is gonna lose by letting me in will cause him to miss an important business deal…or the senior citizen breakfast buffet at Denny’s. I dunno.
I’m now about 20 yards from the end of the ramp and 40 yards from the next on ramp where a cop is ticketing people who run the one car at a time light. COD still won’t let me in. I break into “I’m your worst nightmare….a nigga with a car” mode, act like I don’t see COD and wedge my hooptie up in the spot just in front of COD. Homeboy is PISSSED! He lays on the horn and waves his fist at me like I almost took him out. It was only close at all cuz he was riding my ass like Willie Shoemaker on Secretariat.
I hold up my middle finger, wave it back and forth, twist it around for about 15-20 seconds to make sure COD realizes I’m not just adjusting my mirror. It’s a middle finger….and it’s for him.
COD gets off at the next exit but not before he pulls alongside and gives me the finger back.
Are you that guy? Are you COD? Cuz I got somethin FA YO ASS!
